Six tactile children’s books
For the past two years I have been collaborating with braille teachers and their young pupils in the Netherlands to design and produce a completely new series of children’s tactile books. The series, known as ‘voeljeleesboek’ (literally translated as ‘feel your reading book’, a follow on from touch and feel books for preschool children) aims to stimulate braille literacy amongst primary school children between the ages of 5 to 9 years.
The making of …
Before I started working on this project I knew that it would, in every aspect, be a truly unique project; both exciting and challenging. For this reason I decided to document the whole process; from design sketches, prototypes and testing, right through to production. All the stories have been written by the teachers and the entire production has taken place, for the first time ever, in the Netherlands. As I write the last two titles are still in production. Once the whole series is complete I will publish a full account of the ‘making of’.
To realize this project I have been working closely with the Visio School in Rotterdam and Dedicon.
Work in progress
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Handmade raincoats and flowers; used to illustrate the story about a little boy and his dog. -
Two very young pupils having fun testing a prototype with a storybox item. -
A young braille reader testing a prototype. -
Inside pages: the story pages are white with braille and printed text; the illustration pages are in colour and embossed with braille. -
Proofreading the braille. -
Illustration page from a book about a little girl who makes her own fishing rod; this book comes with a little rod and a fish. -
Story about a little boy who makes a cart and uses it to run errands. The book comes with a bespoke cart and a scented rose. -
Handmade shopping bags with braille cards (200 in total); used to illustrate the story about a boy and his cart. -
A pupil testing an illustration of a doll; she is combing it’s long hair. -
Illustration pages with embossed braille and handmade illustrations of dolls with long hair. -
An illustration page about a spider looking for a place to make its web; the children have to follow the thread, in this case through the holes in a slice of cheese … -
Handmade cats for one of the stories; they are not happy with the prospect of having a little girl comb their soft fur.
